PORTLAND, Ore. — This story comes from the Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner. Click here for the whole story.
The James Beard Public Market hit a fundraising milestone after raising $3 million since October to bring a year-round public market to downtown.
The project received a $500,000 donation from Frank Foti and Brenda Smola-Foti, who co-founded hospitality destination The Ground in Yamhill County, making it the largest individual gift to date.
“We believe the James Beard Public Market will be a catalyst for appreciating and enjoying the agricultural bounty of Oregon,” Frank Foti said in a news release. “James Beard got so many of his ingredients from rural Oregon. The market will create opportunities for rural and urban businesses while connecting people to food, farm and each other.”
The James Beard Public Market announced the site of its future home in October with the hopes of raising $3 million.
Other individual lead gifts for the project are Lynn Loacker, Jim and Sue Kelly, Bob Scanlan and Gay Hart, and the Barry Menashe Family among others.
The money will be used to acquire the 17,290-square-foot building at 622 S.W. Alder St. in downtown Portland. The former site of the downtown Rite Aid is currently owned by Weston Investment Co. LLC, according to PortlandMaps.
The market will also lease ground-floor space at 610 S.W. Alder St. The whole project will span nearly 40,000 square feet, offering 40 new small businesses, a teaching kitchen, event space, restaurant, bakery, fish market, butcher, cheese shop, wine merchant and local farm stalls.
Funds will also go to capital construction and building costs to renovate the two spaces.
Foti led Vigor Industrial, one of the country's largest ship repair companies. Vigor was sold to the Carlyle Group in 2019.
"Frank and Brenda’s businesses, rooted in rural Oregon, exemplify a belief in fostering connections between rural communities and Oregon's largest city, demonstrating what can be achieved with vision and commitment,” said Jessica Elkan, the James Beard Public Market's executive director, in a release.
